What does real-time planning and scheduling mean for private hire companies

06 April 2015

What does real-time planning and scheduling really mean for private hire car companies?

Well, it’s actually pretty amazing really. What it does, is allow a private hire company to allocate and plan future customer journeys based upon the current situation, taking into account the actual time of day, distance, traffic and the most appropriate nearest vehicle in order to advise the customer accurately. Such a process utilises historical data to predict future journey times, so drivers can be on-time.

If the situation changes due to traffic issues, the system, which monitors every variable, will automatically re-calculate the route and, if necessary, reschedule, directing another driver to collect the customer, on-time. With full visibility of the situation, the dispatcher can do what he/she does best – make the right judgement call, as necessary.

For self-employed drivers, just consider major traffic works problems. The customer has been quoted, but the job takes longer, so its extra cost. What we are working on right now is using our real-time system to log and plan around long-term road closures, so the customer is advised of the right fare, the books “can be balanced” and drivers don’t lose out.

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Trident Niven, a London-based private hire company with a fleet of 100 unbranded executive vehicles for corporate customers, has moved its end-to-end operations to Magenta Technology’s Echo private hire business management solution.